Total Pageviews

Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Falkland Islands are one of the most far-flung members of the Island Games Association, situated some 8000 miles from the association's base in the Isle of Man, but it doesn't stop the archipelago sending a team to every tournament, something they have been doing since 1991, and they have undertaken yet another arduous journey of around a day's duration, following a day's delay, to reach Jersey in order to participate in this year's competition, which begins tomorrow (28/06/15). Being so isolated from most of the rest of the world, and with Argentina basically refusing to have anything to do with the islands and their people because of the country's claim to the islands, leading to much ado and expense whenever Falklanders wish to venture abroad, the Island Games tournament is the only competitive outlet for the nation's footballers. A team representing the Falklands first competed in the Island Games in 2001, and since then have been ever-present (apart from the 2007 tournament), and achieved their first-ever victory in 2005 when they defeated Saaremaa (Estonia) in the Shetlands by 2 goals to 1.Football has been played on the islands for a lot longer than the casual observer would think; records show that the game was first played there towards the end of the 19th Century, and Stanley FC, the only club currently operating in the Falklands, was founded back in 1916. For most of the time since then, Stanley FC, which now - to some extent, at least - doubles as the Falkland Islands national side, has only played friendlies against soldiers stationed on the islands, Royal Navy teams or teams representing other visiting vessels. The islands did have a fully-functioning league system, together with a cup competition, for a number of years until 2013 when it ceased due to the only pitch in Stanley being deemed unfit for purpose (Chandlery FC won the championship in 2012-13, the last season in which it was played). Progress as far as football in the Falkland Islands is concerned has also been hampered due to the increase in popularity of various other sports, such as cricket. Not only that, but the fact that the Falkland Islands Football League is not a member of any international organisation limits the opportunities footballers from the islands get to play against international opposition. This differs from the experience of the islands' cricketers; the Falkland Islands Cricket Association have been an affiliate member of ICC Americas since 2007 and have been competing in the ICC Americas Championship since 2010.That isn't to say that the FIFL has been moribund over the last couple of years; not a bit of it. They have been busy holding 7-a-side league and cup competitions, with the FIDF (Falkland Islands Defence Force) coming out on top in the league, which began in November last year andfinished in early February, on goal difference from Malvina. Sealed PR finished third, whilst Falkland Holidays finished the season with the wooden spoon. In the cup competition, Malvina, who had defeated Sealed PR over two legs in the semi-final, got their revenge on FIDF (who received a walkover after Falkland Holidays withdrew), beating them 3:2 in the final, which was held on 13/03/15.The FIFL have also been keeping a close eye on the younger generation of Falkland Islanders, holding training sessions and also sending a contingent of under-12 players last November to the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas to compete in a Unifying Continents at the South of the World Cup tournament. Two teams competed on behalf of the islands and, although neither won the tournament, both teams performed well, giving the FIFL hope for the future and something to work with now.Back to the present now, and Michael Betts, former chairman of the FIFL and current player/coach of the Falkland Islands team who will be competing in Jersey, explained the current situation on the islands at length."I
think football in the islands is at a crossroads. It is still the most
popular sport in the islands, but it is competing with more and more
sports in the islands, which
have less requirements for time, resources, equipment, facilities and
still offer international competitions. "The Football Club is trying to
become more strategic and involved in football at all levels and ages in
the islands. In the past we neglected players
from the ages of 4-16 and this has had a big knock-on effect with the
senior team as most are now over the age of 30. We are addressing this
issue and the under-12s' trip to Chile is the start of trying to look to the
future. We intend to have a trip to Chile
every 2 years."Our
next issue is coaching and equipment. In the past we relied on
volunteers trying their best with whatever equipment we had. Now we are
aiming to send those volunteers
away to get their coaching badges and we are looking to have closer
ties with the English FA and with the Falkland Islands Government to see
if we can benefit from more support. We are still in the early stages,
but we are optimistic we can develop official
relationships."However,
no matter what we do with the above, the largest barrier in the islands
that prevents us from developing football is the lack of adequate
facilities. We have a
pitch that is maintained on a tiny budget and a small indoor sports
hall that leaks when it rains. Both are not equipped to handle the
demands of football in the islands and it is stifling the sport’s
development. I am on a working group that involves Government
and the Falkland Islands Overseas Games Association which is tasked
into investigating how to best develop an all-weather artificial turf
sports field. I believe this is the solution, but the Football Club
needs to ensure that the dimensions and turf type
and length are what football needs."Overall
all though, the future is bright but we are working to make sure
football can develop to its full potential. Especially with the number
of kids coming through now.
In 5-10 years’ time, we will have a very exciting team."For now, though, Betts and his team are concentrating on the forthcoming NatWest Island Games tournament, and they face some stiff competition against two former winners of the tournament, the Isle of Wight and the Shetland Islands. They were also drawn with the Norwegian island of Hitra, the neighbouring island to Frøya whom the Falklands defeated twice in Bermuda two years ago; victory against Hitra may be the best chance of a win for the Falklands team. The Norwegians will be the Falkland Islands' first opponents at the games in an late-afternoon match at St. John's FC on 28/6/15. The Falkland Islands side busied themselves with playing friendlies against teams from the British Army and RAF until the winter weather set in during March. The games mostly took place at Mount Pleasant but two were also held in Stanley. Results in the series of friendlies have greatly encouraged Betts ahead of the team's trip to the Channel Islands, but he has kept his feet firmly on the ground with a healthy mix of hope and realism."The
team hasn’t really discussed aims for this tournament and I think this
is due to the age and inexperience of the squad. We have six new
players going to their first
Island Games and one going to their Island Games as a footballer.
There is an understanding that we won’t perform as well as we did in
Bermuda, mainly because there were only four teams in that competition
and there is such a strong group of teams going to
Jersey. The hope is that we compete against Hitra and give them a
tough game. We are hoping to win, but it is so difficult to say as we
know very little about them. But we know the Isle of Wight and
Shetlands will be incredibly strong teams and we face
a real challenge to stay in the game."Preparations
have gone well, but it hasn’t been without its challenges. We have had
injuries to key players and we have had to bed in a lot of new players,
who aren’t used
to the strains and pressures of preparing for an Island Games. It also
has been very difficult in the last couple of months as it has been
winter here. The lack of light and the snowy conditions has forced us
to train indoors, which is not ideal. We are
the only team coming from winter to play in these games, and I think
that affects our preparations. But on the positive side, we are fit and
very committed and we will step up our game when we are in Jersey."Betts picked out Island Games débutants Sam Toolan and Aiden Morris plus the more experienced Kyle Biggs and Josh Peck as players to watch. Sixteen year-old Toolan is regarded by Betts as being "by far the quickest player in the team and likes to take players on. He has a terrific shot as well."Fellow newcomer Morris (21) is, in Betts' words, "a hard-working, attacking player who likes to create. He will mainly be deployed on the left-side
of midfield, but as a right-footed player he will like to drift infield."Biggs represented the islands at the last NatWest Island Games tournament in Bermuda (and also at the 2011 tournament in the Isle of Wight) and will captain the team in Jersey. Betts: "He is our most important player and leader. He will be expected to play every minute
of every match, as he did in Bermuda."

Peck also played in both tournaments for the Falkland Islands, and Betts had this to say about him: "Josh
is our attacking full-back. He likes to get forward and try and get
into the box. He is a very athletic player who can keep running up and
down the left-side of the
pitch all day."

As Michael Betts mentioned, there have inevitably been injuries and withdrawals in the run-up to the Island Games; defender Josh Clayton had to withdraw in early April, whilst fellow defender Javier Sotomayor picked up an injury at the beginning of June. Clayton and Sotomayor have been replaced by Lucas Biggs and veteran Bill Chater, who has played for the Falklands in five Island Games tournaments, and has also represented the islands at the Games in athletics.A win against either the Isle of Wight or the Shetland Islands for the Falklands team seems unlikely, but one can never tell, of course. Victory against Hitra, whose club side Hitra FK plays in the fifth level of Norwegian football and are currently in fourth place after nine games, and a tilt at winning the Small Nations trophy for the third time in a row, might be a more attainable target for Betts' side.

The team only landed in Jersey less than 30 hours before the game against Hitra, but the trip didn't just begin early yesterday morning for the Falklands squad; the team and Falklands football in general have endured an arduous journey of sorts over the course of the last two years. Let's hope for something positive for them at journey's end.

ASSISTANT MANAGER: Luke CLARKE COACH: Michael BETTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many and sincere thanks are due to Michael Betts for his kindness in assisting with the above article. Some of the information contained above was obtained from the Falkland Islands Football League's Facebook page; for those who wish to know more about football on the islands, here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Falkland-Islands-Football/174283022621680?fref=tsThe Island Games Association's website was also perused - the link follows here:

http://www.iiga.org/

One or two little details were checked on Wikipedia. Good luck to the team in Jersey, and also to the FIFL for their plans for the future.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

The start of the 2015 NatWest Island Games, hosted by Jersey, is only a couple of days away, and like the men's tournament, the women's tournament will commence on 28/6/15. In stark contrast to the 2013 version, which was held in - and won by - Bermuda, 11 teams will be competing, including Greenland and Hitra, both of which were present last time out and who will be surely tested by their hosts.

Åland, winners of the last three tournaments before that held in Bermuda, will be looking to finish top of the heap once again, though several island nations will have something to say about that in the biggest women's tournament ever held as part of the NatWest Island Games. Greenland's women have just finished a successful mini-tour of Denmark, winning both games in which they were involved, and could be capable of going one better than in 2013, when they lost to Bermuda 5:4 on penalties in the final. Others with high hopes of landing their first title - like Greenland - include the Isle of Man, Ynys Môn, the Isle of Wight and, of course, hosts Jersey.

The final is due to take place at Springfield Stadium in St. Helier on 3/7/15; please find below the entire fixture-list for the 2015 NatWest Island Games women's football tournament, with apologies for the lack of information as to the exact layout of the placing play-off matches.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AUTHOR'S
NOTE: Many thanks to Andy Varnon, General Secretary of the Island Games
Association, for his kind assistance with regard to the above article.
Much of the above information was gleaned from the jersey2015.com website. As ever, errors and/or omissions shall be taken care of upon notification of same.

Monday, June 15, 2015

A balmy summer's night in southern Portugal was the backdrop to the Euro 2016 Group C game between Gibraltar and Germany, with the match taking place at the Estádio Algarve - half-way between Faro and Loulé - as the British colony still possesses no stadium suitable enough to host competitive international matches.Earlier the same day (13/6/15), Poland put four goals past Georgia to go top of the group table, and would remain leaders irrespective of what happened in Portugal. Germany were expected to dispose of Gibraltar with the minimum of effort, whilst Gibraltar had conceded at least six goals in three of their previous five group games, losing them all.

However, the boys from the Rock were determined to throw the form-book out the window, and attempted to take the game to the world champions straight from the kick-off, with Liam Walker causing goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller some alarm with a shot from distance early on. Germany still had the better of the early exchanges, however, and a foul on D3 by G11 led to a sixth-minute penalty; Bastian Schweinsteiger's sidefooted spot-kick trundled to Jordan Perez's left, who saved easily, and the rebound was cleared for a corner.

It was the first important save of the night for the Gibraltar goalkeeper - who had already saved long-range efforts from the visitors - and he was to make many more in the first half.

As Perez was concentrating on keeping Germany at bay, his team-mates were busy foraging further up the pitch, and Weidenfeller had to be at his best to stop Adam Priestly's shot after 17 minutes, and again four minutes later when he had to deal with an Aaron Payas free-kick from 20 yards out.

In the twenty-eighth minute, Ryan Casciaro failed to control a loose ball under pressure from Andre Schurrle on the left-hand side some 25 yards from Perez's goal. Schurrle ran on and slotted the ball low to the left of Perez to open the scoring for Der Mannschaft.

Two minutes later, Jake Gosling had a golden chance to equalise after Joseph Chipolina, on the end of a long ball from Liam Walker, volleyed over a cross from the left, but he shot straight at Weidenfeller from six yards out when a shot to either side of the German 'keeper would surely have found the net.

Bellarabi and Herrmann missed chances to put Germany further in front, before Perez pulled off four saves in as many minutes as the first half approached its climax, saving first from Schurrle, then Mesut Özil in a one-on-one, before stopping the unmarked Patrick Herrmann's shot from five yards out. Jonas Hector was the fourth German to be denied just before the break, his point-blank chest-down of an effort was acrobatically scooped away by the Gibraltar custodian.The second half kicked off some five minutes later than planned due to the discovery of a hole in the Weidenfeller's net during the half-time break, a problem which was solved thanks to the utilisation of some tie-wraps and a lighter. Gibraltar fans were hoping for a repeat of their team's tremendous performance during the previous 45 minutes, but their hopes were dashed after Germany scored twice in the first six minutes of the second half.

Max Kruse doubled the lead for Germany in the 47th minute, but Jean Carlos Garcia missed a chance to bring the deficit back to a goal a minute later. Lee Casciaro won the ball for the hosts following a 50-50 challenge in midfield, and he passed to Walker, who in turn stroked the ball across to Garcia.The Lincoln man did not really get hold of his shot from fourteen yards out, which flew over the bar.A horrible back-pass from inside the German half by Walker reached Herrmann some ten yards outside the Gibraltar penalty-area. Herrmann laid the ball off to Iklay Gündogan who, with a skip/dummy combination and a low shot into the corner of Perez's net, made it 3:0 after 51 minutes. Karim Bellarabi's goal for the visitors three minutes later was incorrectly ruled out for a very marginal offside.Lee Casciaro then almost capitalised on some indecision in the centre of the German defence, but his acrobatically inventive dink over the advancing Weidenfeller only just cleared the crossbar. In the 57th minute, Joseph Chipolina's interception was heading out for a corner when Perez inexplicably kept the ball in; Özil was first to react, and squared the ball to Bellarabi to tap in his first goal for his country and Germany's fourth on the night.Sixty-five minutes had passed when Gündokan beat four defenders on a run into the penalty-area and then shot from the edge of the six-yard box, only to see Perez pull off yet another fine save. The Gibraltar goalie's efforts came to naught, however, as Schurrle was on hand to first dummy Perez and a defender and then stroke the ball into the empty net.

Lee Chipolina's nifty low ball into the penalty-area on the hour found Walker in space ten yards out, but he scuffed his shot low and wide to the left of Weidenfeller's goal, much to the dismay of the 3000 Gibraltarians who had made the hop over to the Algarve to warch the match.

Perez denied Özil as his outfield team-mates slowly but surely began to tire under increasing German pressure. Schurrle scored his third and Germany's sixth in the 70th minute after a pass from midfield cut the Gibraltar defence open and found Özil, who then squared to Schurrle for a simple tap-in.

Ryan Chipolina's timely tackle on substitute Podolski prevented a seventh goal, as did another Perez save, denying Sami Khedira, and Kyle Casciaro went close to scoring a consolation goal for the hosts with a quarter of an hour remaining. Germany were not to be denied, though, and Kruse scored his second of the night with ten minutes still to play, crisply volleying low into the net off Perez's legs.Germany continued to create (and miss) chances, but Gibraltar's Liam Walker almost had the last word when he curled in a tricky shot from outside the penalty-area in the third minute of injury-time, an effort which Weidenfeller could only hold at the second attempt as it threatened to squirm away from him and John Sergeant was homing in on the loose ball.Seven-nil, then to Germany at the final whistle, but although they missed several good chances, the result would surely have flattered the world champions as Gibraltar only really began to tire in the last 20 minutes or so. Remember, too, that Walker's crazy back-pass directly contributed to Germany's third goal, and Perez's error - his only one all night - in not letting the ball go out of play led to their fifth. Gibraltar deserved to get on the scoresheet - they had seven shots on target - and should have scored at least a couple of goals.And then there was that tremendous first-half display from the team in red: they went forward at every opportunity, they defended tenaciously, and Jordan Perez had a first half that will remain a highlight of his career. He can console himself with the knowledge that he could do little about most of the seven goals he conceded in what was still a man-of-the-match performance. He was terrific on the night.

His team-mates, to a man, did their best and deserved the standing ovation they received from their supporters at the end of the match. Apart from Perez, Liam Walker especially impressed, and Kyle and Lee Casciaro also stood out, but that is by no means a criticism of the effort put in by the rest of the team.It would be difficult not to concur with the opinion of Dennis Beiso, GFA general secretary, when he said this the following evening: "I thought we gave a superb account of ourselves in the first half against the world champions. Our efforts, and German quality, took their toll in the second half. That said, I don't feel 7-0 was an accurate reflection of the performance and our boys deserved a goal at least.

"Jordan Perez in goal was magnificent and I think we saw some other top class performances from the Gibraltarian players. Nonetheless, we go back to Gibraltar with our heads held high and fully confident that we are improving with every game."

There were the usual snide comments in some quarters after the match which appeared to concentrate solely on the result instead of on the actual performance of the Gibraltar team, and questioned the right of the GFA to field a team in the Euro 2016 qualifiers. If the Gibraltar players can improve their fitness levels a little and iron out one or two deficiencies in their play, especially in defence, they are more than capable of at least reaching the level where the Faroe Islands and (perhaps) Liechtenstein are now, shutting up many of the critics in the process. Gibraltar are, after all, competing in their first-ever major competition, which is a huge step up from competing in Island Games tournaments, and it is proving a huge learning-curve. But, improvement is certainly not beyond them and their performance against Germany was, for the most part, pleasing to the eye. No points, no goals, but there were plenty of positives. It is up to them to keep going, and concrete improvement will surely be just around the corner.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many thanks to the GFA's new general secretary Dennis Beiso for forwarding his comments; good luck to him in his new post.

About Me

I am an Irishman in exile; a dedicated follower of football (above all, of Liverpool and Newry City), a fan of the round ball but not neccessarily all that goes with it.
My intention was just to use this blog for writing practice, and write about those people and places on the football (soccer) front that seem to go unnoticed. If, by some chance (or misfortune), you find something written here worth using/writing about, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE AND SEND COPY. Ideas, compliments, complaints and contributions are more than welcome. In any case, hope you enjoy it.
Facebook - Pat's Football Blog
Twitter - Pat's Football Blog/@PatsFballBlog.